Wasteful or Faithful?
Have you looked at what you put in the garbage can lately? Have you looked at where all your money is going? Have you looked at how you are spending your time? Have you attempted to do an exhaustive moral and ethical inventory regarding work, relationships and things?
We get caught up in the “American Dream.” We seem to buy into the life that the 850+ Advertisements we see each day paint. That is over 310,000 Ads per year. That is more than a person 50 years ago saw in their ENTIRE LIFETIME. We have to eat at this restaurant, take this diet pill and buy that car to be happy. Have you ever wondered what this has done for you sense of what is NEEDED and what is GEEDED? It has created the most wasteful culture in the history of humanity. It has created a society that has based its values on the amount of toys we can amass instead of the actual worth that we have.
The negative saving rate (spending more money than we make) in the United States has created a debtor nation that will eventually be impoverished because we have been wasteful. We have allowed our GREEDS to become mixed up with what we NEED. In short, we have been wasteful of the blessings that God has given us and we will soon be removed from the place where we will be allowed to have it any longer.
Jesus began a parable with this context: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.'”
The manager by his duties has a right to use some to care for his needs and even have some luxuries. Yet, what has happened is that he has been wasteful of what he has charge over and it has dwindled rather than grown appropriately. The implication of the story is that the wasteful manager is actually dishonest by he way he wastes the resources at his disposal. The direct result is that if you cannot be faithful over small amounts you will not be given the opportunity to be faithful – or wasteful – over large amounts. Being faithful does not mean that you live a bare existence all the time, but that you live with the balance of knowing what will build toward the future. It will do you no good to win the lottery if you cannot keep your priorities correctly ordered so that what you have grows instead of shrinks.
The implication of the story is also that if you cannot manage money well personally and in a way that God approves of you will be doomed to eventual failure. God has great plans for you – “’I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” We can all learn to be better stewards of the plans and prosperity God sends our way. We all waste at times – but now is the time to turn and ask God to help us become faithful in little so that we will have the opportunity to be faithful in much. May today be the day you begin that journey!
Blessings,
Pastor Greg
We get caught up in the “American Dream.” We seem to buy into the life that the 850+ Advertisements we see each day paint. That is over 310,000 Ads per year. That is more than a person 50 years ago saw in their ENTIRE LIFETIME. We have to eat at this restaurant, take this diet pill and buy that car to be happy. Have you ever wondered what this has done for you sense of what is NEEDED and what is GEEDED? It has created the most wasteful culture in the history of humanity. It has created a society that has based its values on the amount of toys we can amass instead of the actual worth that we have.
The negative saving rate (spending more money than we make) in the United States has created a debtor nation that will eventually be impoverished because we have been wasteful. We have allowed our GREEDS to become mixed up with what we NEED. In short, we have been wasteful of the blessings that God has given us and we will soon be removed from the place where we will be allowed to have it any longer.
Jesus began a parable with this context: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.'”
The manager by his duties has a right to use some to care for his needs and even have some luxuries. Yet, what has happened is that he has been wasteful of what he has charge over and it has dwindled rather than grown appropriately. The implication of the story is that the wasteful manager is actually dishonest by he way he wastes the resources at his disposal. The direct result is that if you cannot be faithful over small amounts you will not be given the opportunity to be faithful – or wasteful – over large amounts. Being faithful does not mean that you live a bare existence all the time, but that you live with the balance of knowing what will build toward the future. It will do you no good to win the lottery if you cannot keep your priorities correctly ordered so that what you have grows instead of shrinks.
The implication of the story is also that if you cannot manage money well personally and in a way that God approves of you will be doomed to eventual failure. God has great plans for you – “’I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” We can all learn to be better stewards of the plans and prosperity God sends our way. We all waste at times – but now is the time to turn and ask God to help us become faithful in little so that we will have the opportunity to be faithful in much. May today be the day you begin that journey!
Blessings,
Pastor Greg
posted by Covenant of the Cross at
10:38 AM
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